Events

Thursday, November 29, 12 noon EST, 9 a.m. PST
Live interview on internet radio show “A Taste of the Past” Live interview with Linda Pelaccio, host of “A Taste of the Past,” which airs on internet radio station HeritageRadioNetwork, based in Brooklyn, NY. Linda puts together a show about all things food that’s both erudite and casual. Here’s the website for her show: http:/​/​www.heritageradionetwork.com/​programs/​36-A-Taste-of-the-Past.

This is the first event I’ll do for “Creamy and Crunchy,” which will be published a bit less than three weeks earlier, on November 27. This event has an interesting genesis: one of the librarians at Glendale Public has the same masseuse I do (Linda Ferrero, who works in the Atwater section of Los Angeles, and who is a masseuse par excellence). In effect, Linda passed notes between the two of us and the event was born.

This will be part of the prestigious “Lunchtime: NYC” lecture series, whose speakers have included Mark Kurlansky, Andrew F. Smith and others. This event came into being after librarian Deborah Hirsch ran across a promotional display for “Creamy and Crunchy” at Columbia University Press’s booth at Book Expo America (the national trade show for the publishing industry, at Manhattan’s Javits Center in June) and thought it would be a good fit for the series.

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 7 p.m.:
Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101, (626) 449-5320Vroman’s is the grand-daddy of Southern California independent bookstores, and is a plum location to do a reading and signing. I’ve been a customer there since I was in college, have participated in their book groups, taken a creative writing class there and did a reading for my second book there. Having been a customer and a student there, it’s nice to return as an author.

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Thursday, February 7, 12:15 p.m. (TENTATIVE)
Thursdays@​Central
Los Angeles Central Library, 630 West Fifth St., Los Angeles, CA 90071, (213) 228-7000This is an intermittent series of lunchtime readings by LA authors. Sheryn Morris, a stalwart of the Literature and Fiction Department and a friend, was instrumental in setting this up. Park under the library, entering on Flower Street. If you have an LA Public Library Card, parking will be MUCH cheaper.

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April 19-21
Arkansas Literary Festival, Little Rock, ARThe Arkansas Literary Festival has been held every April for the last 10 years in Little Rock. Not only would they like me to appear as a speaker, but — the magic words — they’re going to pay for my travel and lodging. I haven’t been in Arkansas since 1977-78 when I had a rather, ah, interesting eight-month run as a copy editor at the Texarkana Gazette, which is located on the Texas-Arkansas boundary (literally: one side of Stateline Avenue is in Arkansas and the other is in Texas). Skippy’s only U.S. plant is in Little Rock, which probably helps to explain ALF’s interest in having me speak. I’ll post more information about this as it becomes available.

CHSC is the leading group of culinary historians in Southern California. They meet one Saturday morning every month; following the event, attendees repair to the Central Library’s patio for snacks related to the theme of that day’s talk. I’m planning on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches using the best bread, peanut butter and jelly I can find. These sandwiches were a hit at the December 2011 meeting of the Southern California section of the Biographers’ International Organization (BIO).

This eleven-and-a-half-minute video from the American Peanut Shellers Association shows the life cycle of peanut butter and other peanut products. For a shorter (two-minute) version of that same cycle, see the video from the Georgia Peanut Commission, which plays over the Marathons' song "Peanut Butter," the first song in the right-hand column on every page of this website.

Recent Posts

5 SONGS ABOUT PEANUT BUTTER, 5 ABOUT PEANUTS, AND 1 THAT REALLY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER

This classic hit from 1961, almost a note-for-note copy of the version by the Olympics. It features a video from the Georgia Peanut Commission that shows the life cycle of peanut butter from the field to the factory. The standard peanut butter song. Recommended viewing and listening.

This wildly popular (almost 5 million hits on YouTube) song irritated me the first few times I listened to it, but the pure zen of it has worn down my resistance. I've thoughtfully posted a version that includes lyrics, as the inner-city dialect gets a bit dense at times.

Okay, this really isn't a song about peanut butter. But it's alluded to in the chapter about Deaf Smith Peanut Butter, as both are emblematic of the good-natured hippy vibe of the early '70's that I'm increasingly nostalgic for.

Anita O'Day sings this big-band-era classic. Other versions, including those by Louis Armstrong, Stan Kenton, Xavier Cugat, Perez Prado -- even one by Liberace's older brother George -- can be found on YouTube.